Heads for corn-shelling machines are typically placed at the front end of a corn-shelling machine and/or combine harvester and are provided with a plurality of devices suitable for carrying out the shelling of cobs.
Such heads usually have considerable transversal dimensions, i.e. perpendicular to the advancement direction of a corn-shelling machine and/or combine harvester in order to harvest as many cobs as possible upon each passage.
Such transversal dimensions may exceed 10 meters. The heads often need to be removed from the machine and carried, for example, by means of a combine harvester. In order to be carried on combine harvesters, it is necessary to be able to fold said heads.
Solutions for the folding of heads for corn-shelling machines and/or combine harvesters are known in the art, wherein the head includes a central portion and two lateral portions hinged at opposite sides to the central portion. The hinge axes are arranged parallel to the advancement direction of the head. The central portion has an extension equal to about half the total transversal extension of the head while each lateral portion has a transversal extension equal to about ¼ of the total extension. In this way, each lateral portion can be upturned on top of the central portion and in a folded configuration, the head takes on a transversal size equal to about half the maximum size in a working configuration.
However, such solutions have limitations since the total dimensions are still equal to about half the maximum ones: this means that for larger heads, such dimensions in a folded configuration will still be approximately 5-6 m. Such dimensions are excessive and require the use of oversized loads with security risks and high transportation costs.